A place to realize the importance of the past, a cornerstone of peace [Sendai Air Raid Bombing Center Point].

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Nameplate showing the "Bombing Center Point" Photo courtesy of the Volunteers' Group for Documenting the Sendai Air Raids.

A place to notice important memories of the past

In December 2021, 80 years after the start of the Pacific War in 1941, a memorial plaque was installed to mark the "Bombing Center Point" where the U.S. military targeted Sendai with incendiary bombs in an air raid.
The location of the plaque is near the entrance of the Sakurai Pharmacy building on the first floor of an arcade called "Chris Road Shopping Street" in downtown Sendai. It was installed by members of the "Volunteers' Group to Record the Sendai Air Raid" (representative: Professor Satoshi Ohira of Miyagi Gakuin Women's University) at this location, which is crowded with shoppers every day.
Ms. Hiroko Niizuma, a member of the group, talked about the fact that there is a place to notice important memories of the past in familiar everyday places, and that she hopes many people will learn about it as a page in Sendai's history, and that it will lead to the continuation of happy everyday life.
Memorial plaque showing the "Bombing Center Point" of the Sendai Air Raid
On the wall next to the plaque is a memorial to the bombing center point of the air raid, which was hit by 123 U.S. B-29 bombers over Sendai in the early morning hours of July 10, 1945. In just over two hours, a large number of incendiary bombs were dropped, leaving the entire area a burnt field and claiming many lives. This plaque shows the current location of the actual center of the bombing, as well as aerial photographs taken by U.S. military reconnaissance aircraft at the time.
Intersection of Chris Road and Higashi Sanbancho (bombing center point)
Sendai has a unique beauty, retro and modern buildings of the Meiji and early Showa periods, which remain less preserved than in other cities. This was because of the Sendai Air Raid, which took many lives and important places in an instant. In the Sendai air raid, Sendai Castle, the Ote-mon Gate, and side turrets were destroyed in addition to the city center. Zuihouden, the mausoleum of Lord Date Masamune, was also destroyed by fire.
With the passage of time, the number of people of this generation who did not know about the war has increased, and memories of the war have faded. Sendai is the only city in Japan to have such a monument in a downtown area.
The nameplate is a symbol of the city's desire to "remember its history and to stand on the foundations of peace," so it is acceptable to step on it. We hope that both locals and visitors to Sendai will step on this nameplate in remembrance of peace when they come to this place.

I would like to thank
Mr. Akio Sakurai, Sakurai Pharmacy Co.
Ms. Hiroko Niizuma, Association of Volunteers to Record Sendai Air Raids
for their cooperation in preparing this article.

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